Wild Schedule Press Release

The Minnesota Wild’s 2010-11 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season schedule was released today. Minnesota plays the Carolina Hurricanes in the opening game of the 2010-11 NHL regular season as part of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, on Thursday, Oct. 7. The teams will also play in Helsinki on Friday, Oct. 8. Both games will start at 11 a.m. (CT). The Wild will host the Edmonton Oilers in the home opener at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. to open a stretch of eight out of ten home games following the season-opening contests in Finland.

The 2010-11 schedule consists of 82 games – 40 at Xcel Energy Center, 40 road contests and two games in Helsinki, Finland. The Wild’s home schedule features 21 weekend games (six on Friday, seven on Saturday and eight on Sunday) and three afternoon contests (Nov. 26, March 19 and April 2). Most evening games at Xcel Energy Center will begin at 7 p.m.

Minnesota will play each member of the Northwest Division (Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton and Vancouver) six times (three times at home, three times on road) for a total of 24 games. In addition, the club will play the remaining members of the Western Conference’s Pacific Division (Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Jose) and Central Division (Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville and St. Louis) four times each (twice at home and twice on the road) for a total of 40 games.

The Wild will play 18 games against the Eastern Conference this season, playing six games against the Atlantic Division, five against the Northeast Division and seven versus the Southeast Division. Minnesota will play a home and home series against Carolina, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Wild will also visit Atlanta, Boston, Florida, New Jersey, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh in the East, while hosting Buffalo (March 6), Montreal (March 20), Ottawa (Dec. 16), Philadelphia (Nov. 24), Toronto (March 22) and Washington (Oct. 28).

Popular out-of-town visits at Xcel Energy Center include: the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks (Oct. 30, Feb. 28), the Anaheim Ducks (Nov. 17, Feb. 18), the Calgary Flames (Nov. 5, Dec. 3, Dec. 20), the Dallas Stars (Jan. 9, April 10), the New York Rangers (Nov. 20) the St. Louis Blues (Feb. 12, March 26), the San Jose Sharks (Nov. 2, Dec. 29) and the Vancouver Canucks (Oct. 19, Jan. 16, Feb. 15). The Wild’s game against St. Louis on Saturday, Feb. 12, is part of the Fifth Annual Hockey Day Minnesota, a partnership between the Wild, FOX Sports North and Wells Fargo.

The Wild’s longest homestand is five games: Oct. 25 – Nov. 5 against Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, San Jose and Calgary. The club has four road trips that are four games each.

2010-2011 Season Tickets are now available for select lower level and Treasure Island Resort & Casino Club level seats. More information on season tickets is available at www.wild.com, or by contacting a Wild Ticket Sales Representative at 651-222-WILD.

After The All-Star Game – Minnesota will have 33 games remaining on its schedule, including 17 home games and 16 road contests. A total of 27 of those contests will be against Western Conference opponents.

Back-To-Back Games: 19 (most in team history, 15 last season)Back-to-back at home: 1 (second time in team history – March 17 and 18, 2002) Back-to-back on road: 8 (8 last year)Road game followed by home game next day: 3 (2 last year)Home game followed by road game next day: 7 (5 last year)

Length of 2010-11 Season: 186 days (Oct. 7 – April 10), four days less than the 2009-10 campaign